Hello! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
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The part that Hikaru hated the most was waking up.
He fucking hurt all over. If the nurse had him on any pain medication, he didn't feel it at all, but then again it was a given considering his extremely high metabolism. But his eyes nor his heartbeat even so much as fluttered, nor did his fingers twitch because even though he knew where he was, he did not want to wake up.
No.
He wanted to stay asleep, give up for once in his life because surely it was okay to give up, right? He'd lived a nice, long 25-ish years and he would just like to keel over, thanks.
But he wouldn't. He had a self-imposed promise to fufill and genin to protect, so no matter how much he wanted to give up, he wouldn't. Of course, it was also due to the fact that he somehow knew that everything would end up in a war anyway without him there, so he would stay.
Hikaru breathed in deeply.
And finally opened his eyes.
Okay, so he was not in Konoha's hospital, nor was he facing a brilliant white ceiling. No, what he was facing was a musty, dark-grey ceiling that Hikaru refused to go into further detail. However, the cleanliness of the air spoke of a hospital, but the appearance definitely wasn't of one.
Then again, Hikaru should have expected this. He did, in a way. When he'd been a genin, he'd never even set foot in the clinic even when Inari got a really bad cut on his shin a day or so before they'd left.
"Are you awake?"
Hikaru would've jumped at the familiar voice had he not felt the familiar chakra that had spiked a bit upon the question. He glanced over at Sakura, knowing his eyesight was blurry.
His somehow still numb fingers reached up, and he relaxed slightly when they brushed against porcelain. However, he was still careful to keep his voice monotone when he answered her.
"Yes. How long has it been?" He asked, knowing by his sudden, killer headache that it had been at least an hour or two. Maybe longer. Hikaru often lost track of the time.
"It's been about three hours. Dr. Hamasaki-san said that you should be sleeping longer, though." Sakura said, curiosity leaking slowly into her tone. From what Hikaru could see- which wasn't much, the poison must have been strong- she was fidgiting in her chair by his bed.
"Maa, maa, Sakura-chan I think it's best to wait before we start interrogating him." Kakashi suddenly appeared in the doorway, and Hikaru jumped slightly. He hadn't really been paying attention- which he now cursed himself for, considering his heart was now pounding in his throat- and thus, had been surprised by him.
Hikaru blinked, attempting to clear his vision, realizing the KI in the room was slowly increasing. Confusion bloomed inside of him, but he pushed it away after quickly thinking the situation through.
So, if he was Kakashi but didn't have a clue that Hikaru was, well, Hikaru, the most appropriate action to take was to treat him with caution. And since Sakura nor the genin had no idea it was him-
A small little flag rose in his mind even though he wasn't currently on the subject.
When he'd taken off the seal that kept his chakra hidden and low, Kakashi had likely recognized the signature. If Hikaru was lucky, Kurama fusing with him would have very hopefully changed it, but if he wasn't lucky Hikaru was completely screwed over. That would be that.
He'd have to go into hiding, possibly leave the village and do things that way, change his name and somehow his appearance...
"Sakura-chan, why don't you go and get Dr. Hamasaki-san? I'll wait here with the ANBU." Kakashi said in a decievingly friendly voice. Hikaru resisted the urge to get out of there- he could barely move his numb limbs, so what was the point.
Well, at least this Kakashi somehow reminded him of his timeline's Kakashi right before he started to pull pranks. Except this Kakashi was a bit more suspicious of him, and in an odd, roundabout way it hurt.
Sakura scurried out of the room and Hikaru laid there, feeling like a child he'd seen being scolded by their mother when he was still in the Academy. He hadn't really felt the feeling- Naruto Uzumaki of his timeline knew zero shame or hesitation, and he just somewhat wanted to go back to that timeline and punch himself silly.
But it was gone and dead with only memories left, so he didn't. Or, rather, couldn't.
"Hikaru-san, mind telling me why you were poisoned?" Kakashi's voice was easy to hear, so Hikaru infered that the jonin had moved closer.
"Ah... I was scouting a base. Then I got shot in the knee and I was poisoned." Hikaru said flatly, knowing that the jonin's voice hid something that Hikaru couldn't quite recognize. But, at that moment, he didn't really care- he would look back on this conversation later, he was sure, and regret all but 10% of it.
"Hm." This was the only sound that Kakashi made in response, followed by the swift flipping of near-silent pages. Hikaru could feel a low chakra walking down the hallway, followed by Sakura's chakra.
They came into the room, and Hikaru opened his eyes again. He didn't exactly remember closing them, but he'd become somewhat numb to the pain that was piercing through him so he would take that.
"Hello! I'm your doctor, Hamasaki Leiko. Hatake-san was kind enough to bring you in." Leiko said, and Hikaru knew right then that something was odd about her. Even though he could barely see and move- which was odd, it should have stopped by now considering his metabolism- there was the weirdest glint in her eye.
Every single one of Hikaru's instincts flared the moment she reached out near him, and he unknowingly let his KI hang in the air, causing her to freeze. Hikaru knew he was probably scaring Sakura, but his gut told him to run. So Hikaru sat up, ignoring the pulls and shrieking in his muscles, ignoring the way her eyes widened.
"H-how?" She whispered, and Hikaru adjusted his mask slightly, slipping back into his henge. Using his chakra hurt and it burned his pathways, causing him to falter slightly as he started standing up. Sakura was shaking slightly in the doorway and even Kakashi looked slightly weary as Hikaru essentially threatened Leiko.
On his gut instinct.
Which he trusted more than letting someone strange, someone new touch him. Before all of the medical nin had died out, he hadn't let anyone but Sakura and Tsunade heal him. It was hard enough having been in the hospital under the care of people he didn't trust enough a week or so ago.
And then Hikaru jumped out of the window.
In hindsight, it was not the best of ideas. But he'd quickly gotten hold of a branch that was thankfully nearby, ignoring the way the tip threatened to snap until his chakra coated the branch. His knees cracked as he swung onto the top of the branch, also ignoring Leiko's outraged cry as she watched him quickly climb down the tree.
Of course, Hikaru probably shouldn't have even been standing about three hours after he'd gotten poisoned, but he still managed to walk vaguely in the directon of Tsunami's house. His muscles protested with every step that he took, his hands burning from the rough collision with the tree.
Hikaru spared a glance down at his red smudged hands, which were already healing, surprisingly. The fox's chakra chose to heal his wounds, but not the poison that was still coursing through his veins?
Hikaru let himself give a tired scoff as he arrived in front of Tsunami's house, taking one look at it before promptly deciding to go climb a tree and sleep on a branch instead. So he did.
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Hikaru was awake.
It was midnight, the cresent moon high in the sky and full. There were no clouds in the sky, the stars only obstructed by the leaves overhead. Hikaru tried to sit up, only to find that his limbs wouldn't really respond, and panic shot through him like a lightning bolt before he tried again.
Then he was able to sit up, his back and neck aching like they had been pulled. He sighed- his breath somehow showing in the air- and scanned the area. His chakra slowly oozed out of him, and he was pleased to find out that using chakra no longer hurt. His eyes were still a bit blurry and he was still a bit numb- especially his hands and legs- but it was likely just the after effects of the poison.
The cold wind ruffled playfully with his crimson hair, and Hikaru adjusted his mask again, still unused to wearing it. His stomach rumbled- the strange sensation of being hungry.
He blinked, then blinked again before deciding to jump down and head back to Tsunami's house. He would take it easy for the next day, then he would be back to figuring out why and how he was poisoned. Then he would take down Gato and Zabuza, both of which he'd gotten sidetracked from.
Hikaru was completely awake.
It was a strange, odd feeling. The life around him was usually muted, but he could feel every single breath leave his lungs and it was a strange feeling to be completely aware of everything. He could sense every tree in the vicinity, every dying leaf, every sleeping animal and even the owl that was at the very edge of his current sensing range.
There was a reason why he didn't use his sensing all the time.
More often then not, especially in the village when it had still been there, it was harder to pick out a single chakra signature unless if he was familiar with it. It also usually gave him a major headache as there were so many people that were in Konoha.
Hikaru sighed softly, another soft rumble in his stomach reminding him that he was, in fact, hungry.
He headed slowly back to Tsunami's house, his feet silent against the mud, turning off his chakra sensing as he approached the house more cautiously, deciding not to use the front door. He instead pushed chakra into his legs and jumped into an open window that held Kakashi's chakra signature in the room.
"Kakashi-san." Hikaru greeted, his tone still largely flat and falling short of friendly. Hikaru didn't exactly know quite yet if the other had recognized his chakra signature, but even the thought of Kakashi finding out was largely uncertain. He didn't exactly know how the other would react, only that it would teeter on the verge of being extremely bad.
"Hikaru-san." Kakashi greeted him, flipping a page in his perverted book. Hikaru just blinked over at him.
Tension was high in the air. For what reason, Hikaru could only guess. And his guesses so far weren't great- especially now that he-
"Maa, maa, Hikaru you should be careful with the KI you use around my genin." Kakashi eye-smiled over at him in the dark, and Hikaru felt a small flicker of surprise spring up inside of him.
"I'll take note of that." Hikaru said, leaning against the wall and sitting down. He was tired- his body wasn't quite that numb but he was starting to feel a lot more side effects, for some reason- but he knew that he would be unable to sleep.
A soft memory sprung up into Hikaru's mind, and like that, he was lost.
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Thank you guys for so much reads and votes! (And comments, those literally make my day!!) I'll keep this note at the bottom short cause we're almost at 2k words-
This chapter contains 1995 words!
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